Webster customers will get bottled water

WEBSTER — Selectmen and the Board of Health jointly and unanimously voted to supply bottled water to customers who are drawing rusty-colored tap water and require additional testing at their homes.

The motion was made by Selectman Mark G. Dowgiewicz during the Thursday night meeting.

The residents will be given an amount of water needed until the problem is corrected, but they first have to call the town and have the municipality sample and test it.

The problem surfaced earlier this year.

Town Administrator John F. McAuliffe explained again that the springtime flushing was the first time the town had undertaken a large-scale, high volume, unidirectional flush of the entire system.

Most of the rust in the water has been construction driven, he said.

The town's water quality results dating to January do not trigger any of the state's lowest level thresholds pertaining to contaminants, he added.

Klebart Avenue, Crosby Street, Lake Street, and Fifth Street have been "hot spots" for discolored water, and the bulk of those have been related to old pipes.

Board of Health Chairman David Zalewski also tried to allay concerns, saying he had visited an official from the state Department of Environmental Protection Thursday and was told that, for what had been tested, "So far we're OK."

Selectmen Chairman Robert Miller said the town had received a note from a doctor from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston advising a student under his care with an immune deficiency that he should not drink water at Park Avenue School "at this point."

The letter said the student should be allowed to carry his own water bottle and hand sanitizer, Mr. Miller said.

Sarah Phillips, the school's nurse, said parents were already coming in asking what was being done about the brown water. With school starting Wednesday, she asked if the water could be tested so that she can give parents information.

Mr. McAuliffe said testing of the school's water was "already in the works."

Water Superintendent Doran Crouse said there's been substantial construction in the area of the school, and the town found "buildup in those water lines that was unacceptable to us."

Consequently it did a high-velocity flush. The town found sediment in the Ray Street connection, so tonight another high-velocity flush will be conducted from Ray Street in the direction of Park Avenue. The flush will expand into the outskirts of the area to try to capture all of the water that was stirred up, the official said.

Resident Elaine Murdock thanked the officials for their actions. After Monday night's public hearing, she said she didn't expect to see water quality reports posted on the town website within 24 hours, which she called fantastic.

The resident suggested that people called the town to complain only once this summer, even though they had two, three and four instances of discolored water. She said the residents likely didn't want to bother town officials.